An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Clinical Pharmacist to join our growing multi-disciplinary team, based at Bewick Crescent Surgery, on a permanent basis.
Job Title: Clinical Pharmacist
Responsible to: PCN Clinical Director & Senior Lead Pharmacist
Location: Sedgefield 1 Primary Care Network, based at Bewick Crescent Surgery
Contract Type: Permanent
Hours: Full time (37.5 hours)
Salary: Depending on experience
Teamwork, flexibility, enthusiasm and the ability to prioritise tasks effectively are essential skills.
Working within your clinical and professional boundaries in a patient facing role as part of a multidisciplinary team to manage medicines on transfer of care and systems for safer prescribing. Perform face-to-face structured medication reviews of patients with polypharmacy; especially for those with frailty and/or with multiple co-morbidities as well as undertaking reviews of patients with specific long-term conditions that fall within your competency.
Work in partnership with stake holder organisations to improve the safety and quality of care for patients and manage medicines on transfer of care. Deliver medicines optimisation initiatives within GP practices including the provision of specialist professional pharmaceutical advice and services to ensure the safe and cost-effective use of medicines. This will involve work to deliver key medicines optimisation outcomes against a set work plan. Contribute to quality improvement and clinical audit, as well as supporting aspects of the Quality and Outcomes Framework, medicines safety and antibiotic stewardship. You will also be required to contribute towards practice financial stability through medicines optimisation and related targets in QOF.
Sedgefield 1 Primary Care Network is an innovative, dynamic PCN combining 4 local GP Practices based in Sedgefield, with a population of over 42,000 patients. We are continually seekingnew ways to support and improve local healthcare services to our patient population.
We are committed to the ongoing development of our team, which includes mandatory and developmental training for all our staff. Team members are encouraged to highlight any training they feel would benefit them in the achievement of their role. Please note, for this role, we require the successful candidate to have completed the CPPE pathway or be currently working towards completion.
Patient facing - long-term condition clinics
Working within the practice-based team to undertake medication reviews particularly in high-risk groups such as:
- Frail elderly
- Polypharmacy
- Renal impairment
- Hepatic impairment
- Substance misuse
- Patients on high-risk medicines
- STOPP/START identified patients
- Revolving door Hospital admissions
Review the on-going need for each medicine, a review of monitoring needs and an opportunity to support patients with their medicines taking ensuring they get the best use of their medicines (i.e. medicines optimisation).
Make appropriate recommendations to GPs for medicine improvement.
Patient facing Structured Medication Review
Undertake structured medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations for nurses and/or GPs on prescribing and monitoring.
This would be a level 3 clinical medication review looking at the patients full clinical condition, blood monitoring, interface care arrangements, social isolation etc. including reducing inappropriate polypharmacy and wasteful prescribing.
Care Home Medication Reviews
Undertake structured medication reviews and produce recommendations for nurses or GPs on prescribing and monitoring.
Work with care home staff to improve safety of medicines ordering and administration.
Management of common/minor/self-limiting ailments
Managing caseload of patients with common/minor/self-limiting ailments while working within a scope of practice and limits of competence.
Signposting to community pharmacy and referring to GPs or other healthcare professionals where appropriate.
Patient facing medicines support
Provide patient facing clinics for those with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines in the practice.
Telephone medicines support
Provide a telephone help line for patients with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines.
Medicine information to practice staff and patients
Answers relevant medicine-related enquiries from GPs, other practice staff, other healthcare teams (e.g. community pharmacy) and patients with queries about medicines.
Suggesting and recommending solutions.
Providing follow-up for patients to monitor and effect of any changes.
Unplanned hospital admissions
Review the use of medicines most commonly associated with unplanned hospital admissions and readmissions through audit and individual patient reviews.
Put in place changes to reduce the prescribing of these medicines to high-risk patient groups.
Management of medicines at discharge from hospital
To reconcile medicines following discharge from hospitals, intermediate care and into care homes, including identifying and rectifying unexplained changes and working with patients and community pharmacists to ensure patients receive the medicines they need post discharge.
Set up and manage systems to ensure continuity of medicines supply to high-risk groups of patients (e.g. those with medicine compliance aids or those in care homes).
Medicines Optimisation
Deliver medicines optimisation outcomes against a set workplan dealing with cost saving initiatives, QIPP and medication safety work streams.
Interface
Interface with community and hospital pharmacy colleagues and develop referral processes between primary care professionals including the promotion of the repeat dispensing service
Signposting
Ensure that patients are referred to the appropriate healthcare professional for the appropriate level of care within an appropriate period of time e.g. pathology results, common/minor ailments, acute conditions, long-term condition reviews etc.
Repeat Prescribing
Participate in the repeat prescribing reauthorisation process by reviewing patient requests for repeat prescriptions and reviewing medicines reaching review dates and flagging up those needing a review.
Ensure patients have appropriate monitoring tests in place when required.
Risk stratification
Identification of cohorts of patients at high risk of harm from medicines through pre-prepared practice computer searches.
This might include risks that are patient related, medicine related, or both.
Service Development
Contribute pharmaceutical advice for the development and implementation of new services that have medicinal components (e.g. advice on treatment pathways and patient information leaflets).
Information management
Analyse, interpret and present medicines data to highlight issues and risks to support decision-making.
Medicines quality improvement
Undertake clinical audits of prescribing in areas directed by the GPs, feedback the results and implement changes in conjunction with the practice team.
Medicines safety
Implement changes to medicines that result from MHRA alerts, product withdrawal and other local and national guidance.
Increase safe and effective prescribing through mechanisms such as audit. Improve quality in prescribing using Quality Improvement methodology including the use of Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) cycles.
Implementation of local and national guidelines and formulary recommendations
Monitor practice prescribing and make recommendations to GPs for medicines that should be prescribed by hospital doctors or subject to shared care.
Auditing practices compliance against NICE guidelines.
Education and training
Provide education and training to primary healthcare team on therapeutics and medicines optimisation.
Care Quality Commission
Work with general practice team to ensure the practice is compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved.
Public Health
To support public health campaigns.
To provide specialist knowledge on all public health programmes available to the general public.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
South Durham Health CIC
Bewick Crescent Surgery
27 Bewick Crescent
Newton Aycliffe
County Durham
DL5 5LH
https://www.southdurhamhealth.co.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)